


Photogenic

by meanderingsoul



Category: Captain America (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Androgyny, Bucky Barnes knows he's pretty, Drunken Shenanigans, Fluff and Angst, Fluff without Plot, Flustered Steve Rogers, Gen, Pictures, Pre-Relationship, Unresolved Sexual Tension
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-02-13
Updated: 2015-02-13
Packaged: 2018-03-12 04:20:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,230
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3343463
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/meanderingsoul/pseuds/meanderingsoul
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Steve had known this was inevitable as soon as Bucky had made that quip at the bar. Bucky had a fools head for pretty clothes. Of course, giggling in an SSR base storeroom late at night wasn’t the greatest idea.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Photogenic

Steve had known this was inevitable as soon as Bucky had made that quip at the bar. 

Bucky had always been the one of them with the good sense, the good student, the fine young man, devoted brother, perfect soldier. Steve was used to the shaking heads directed his way as he walked with Bucky back in Brooklyn, because to Bucky’s collection of elderly neighborhood admirers Bucky was never going to find a nice girl and settle down proper if he kept Steve around with all the trouble he caused. 

All of that carefully maintained image fell apart when there were pretty clothes involved. Bucky had a fools head for pretty clothes. Clothes on girls. Clothes off of girls. Clothes on fairies. Clothes half-off of any rough trade that Steve was supposed to pretend he didn’t know about. Makeup. Hats. 

Steve had been 14 the first time Bucky had climbed in his window late at night to get him to help scrub off the lipstick he’d gotten his girl to put on him before he had to go home to his folks. 16 the first time Bucky had gone on about a girl’s polka-dotted dress until Steve hit him with a book. 20 the first time Bucky had dropped far more of his pay on a deep blue hat than was anywhere near reasonable and spent hours preening in it in front of their cracked mirror. (The hat had vanished wordlessly that winter when Steve got pneumonia again.) Steve might get in more fights and might have a much worse reputation, but Bucky had always made his own fair share of trouble. 

So really, breaking into the storage area of the USO to steal a showgirl’s dress was not a surprising event. Bucky had drunk lots more whiskey than was usually his habit but he’d relaxed a lot, giggling and hushing Steve every few moments even though he was the one making all the noise. He’d started smiling as soon as it became clear Steve was going to help him get to try on one of the dresses and had hustled them out of the bar, leaving the still singing new commandos behind. 

He’d rambled about Agent Carter’s red dress most of the way there and Steve let him. It wasn’t like he didn’t agree with every word of praise Bucky slurred out. Steve knew which of the USO dresses might fit Bucky and had snagged it from the rack and shoved it down his jacket until they reached the relative safety of what seemed like a disused closet. Bucky didn’t take long to shuck his rumpled uniform and tug the dress down over his underpants. Steve couldn’t zip it up more than halfway but Bucky was still laughing, fussing with the red gloves and moaning about not having the right shoes.

“Those little silver ones wouldn’t even go halfway on your feet.”

“No, not those! I need some black patent leather, dancing shoes. And a black trilby.”

Of course, giggling in an SSR base storeroom late at night wasn’t the greatest idea.

Peggy was back in uniform, she must have come back in to work on something, and the door seemed to clang shut behind her in the sudden hush. She had her lips pursed together tightly, eyes a little too wide and bright. 

Steve was trying to think of something to say. ‘It’s not what it looks like’ probably wouldn’t mean much since it looked like Steve helping Bucky into a dress and that’s exactly what was happening.

He’d forgotten how damn sauced Bucky was.

Bucky beamed at her and said, “Hey doll, know anywhere we can borrow a camera in this joint?”

Steve felt himself start to flush. This was gonna be worse than the time with Sally’s blue nail polish. He’d been in the real army for real for less than a week and this was gonna be it. They’d both be on the next boat home in disgrace and Agent Carter would never speak to him again. 

She blinked twice and vanished back out the door.

Steve slapped Bucky across the upper arm as soon as the door closed.

“Hey!”

“I can’t believe this. I can’t believe I went along with this. We’re both gonna get blue-carded over that damn dress. This is way worse than that time with that fairy’s dancing shoes at that speakeasy.”

“Now that wasn’t that bad!”

“His joe was twice your size! You almost got five people arrested you jerk!”

“But I didn’t! Anyway, she’ll be right back.”

“There’s no way she…”

But there was a throat being cleared behind them. Peggy was holding some kind of camera he’d never seen and tapping a foot.

"Peggy um Agent, we can’t actually… The film…”

“This isn’t exactly the usual film camera. It’s not on the market yet, but Mr. Stark will hardly notice it moved during the night. Sergeant Barnes you’ll have your photo in five minutes. Captain Rogers, I’d suggest the pose from that picture they had you take in Chicago.”

Steve felt himself go red. “So, you saw that?”

Bucky looked delighted. “What picture?”

“Gentlemen, I don’t have all night.”

Steve swallowed and turned back to Bucky, tugging him in close and reaching down to grip under his right thigh and pull it up around his own hip. He leaned his other hand on a nearby desk for balance.

“Put your arm up around my neck.”

Bucky didn’t have to be prompted to prop his other hand on the jut of his hip. Steve glanced back at Peggy. She was biting her lips together, but it seemed like that was because she was trying not to grin.

“Go on Captain, lean your heads together and try and look poised for the camera. Barnes looks plastered.”

He leaned the side of his face into Bucky’s soft hair. Buck had gone still except for where he could feel his belly rise and fall with his breath. The camera made a tiny click and whirred before spitting out a small card into Peggy’s waiting hand. They let go of each other to go look at it with her.

Bucky whistled. It looked like the kind of picture you had to buy in the back rooms decent people didn’t even know were there. Their faces looked inviting? Maybe? Steve barely recognized himself at all.

Peggy was grinning now, just with the corners of her mouth. She held the little card out to Bucky who shook his head.

“I think you better hang onto that Mags. Wouldn’t want it to get dirtied up riding around in my pockets.”

She tucked it into a small pocket book in her uniform and straightened her jacket. “Enjoy the rest of your evening boys.”

*

When the former Director Carter finally passed on in her sleep her remaining estate was divided among her two children and grandchildren and her various nieces and nephews, except for one narrow envelope from a solitary recent addition to her will.

When the envelope was delivered to a red-eyed Captain Steven Rogers by his former neighbor Sharon he gently undid the seal and peered inside. Then he started to shake. Sharon was about to say something, maybe reach for him, when he uncharacteristically slid down against the nearest wall and began to howl with laughter.

He never said what had been in the envelope.

**Author's Note:**

> So this was shamelessly inspired by Seplus' art that you can see here '/post/91351954905/national-debt-sellers' on their tumblr. It occurred to me a while ago to wonder who took the picture. Then I noticed how underused the '&' tags are for these guys. This fic appeared. 
> 
> I'm sure that wasn't the last time Bucky's clothes chasing got them in trouble during the war, but Steve will never tell.


End file.
